Daughter From The Dwarf: 3 Dreamland
by OliviaR5Warbler
Summary: Set when Luna is 7 months old Rimmer can't seem to work out why she won't stop crying. Part 3 of my Daughter From The Dwarf series - Fics do not follow on.


Arnold Rimmer couldn't tell you how long his 7-month-old daughter Luna had been crying for. Holly, the ship's computer could and if you asked him, he'd tell you she had been crying for 2 days 17 hours 12 minutes and 47 seconds, only stopping when she was fed, but that was just because her mouth was otherwise occupied. Rimmer had tried everything, but whatever he tried, Luna was not letting up. "Luna, please," he pleaded, picking her up after changing her. "Please, what do you need sweetheart? I've tried everything," he continued, rocking and bouncing her as he walked around the room. He had, indeed, tried everything. He'd fed her, changed her, cuddled her, given her a bath which she normally loved, cuddled her some more, even tried just leaving her to settle, nothing was working. She just continued to scream. It broke his heart to see her suffering, but he didn't know what else to do.

To top it off, he was alone with Luna and had no one else to turn to for advice. The medi-unit was broken and Lister, Cat and Kryten were off on a scavenging mission. He only had Holly and his supposed 6000 IQ. Who was he kidding? Holly had been no help. All he'd done was keep track of how long she'd been crying.

"They're back Arn, Starbug's just landing now," Holly told him. Rimmer breathed a sigh of relief. Lister arrived at their part of the ship first to give him an update.

"Hey man, we got the parts, Kryten's starting work on the medi-unit now," he paused and took a good look at Rimmer and Luna. "Are you OK? How long's she been cryin'?"

"Holly," Rimmer cued him.

"2 days, 17 hours, 21 minutes and 16 seconds," Holly answered.

"Bless, d'you wan' me to have a go?"

"Oh, God please," Rimmer said. He kissed Luna on the head as Lister washed his hands and shed his jacket.

"Hello darlin', what's got that bee in your bonnet ey?" He rocked her then spied something, "aha, is that what this fuss is about?"

"What, what, what is it?" Rimmer leapt up from where he had slumped on the couch.

"'Ere, pass me that bottle o' whiskey would you," Rimmer, confused, did as he was asked. Lister stuck his finger in the neck of the bottle, tipped it so the liquid touched his finger. He stuck his finger in Luna's mouth and she quietened as the whiskey soothed her. "That's what I thought, she's teethin' man. Look at that whopper comin' through, poor thing," Lister showed him. "Whiskey's a temporary solution, where're those keys she likes, and her pacifier." Rimmer searched around for the items. "Right, whack one pacifier in the freezer for five minutes, the rest and the keys in the fridge. Oh, and get one of her bibs, teething brings drooling. Do you want her back?"

"Mm, I haven't charged in nearly a week now. I'm getting low on power. Give me an hour?"

"Go an' have a sleep, Rimmer." Luna was already showing signs of discomfort as Lister soothed her. After five minutes he pulled her pacifier out of the freezer and tested that it wasn't too cold. Once she was sucking on it happily he settled back into the couch, Luna beside him, leaning against him as he watched Zero-G football re-runs. As he watched he explained the game to Luna, who gummed at her pacifier. She was asleep against him before half-time and he laid her on her playmat.

Rimmer returned after an hour, still plugged into his charging block. He sat on the other end of the sofa, "how'd the scavenging go?"

"It went well, Kryten and Cat are working on it now. I wanted to come an' check on you guys first," as he spoke Luna wriggled, waking from her nap and began crying. Rimmer sighed, unplugged the charging block so he could become hard-light again and picked her up. She soothed as he shushed and cuddled her. "Bless her, she just wants her daddy. Did you get much of a sleep?"

"Not really, is this what parenting is Lister? Losing sleep over worrying about her?"

"Welcome to parenthood." Lister grinned.

"Why don't you build pillow walls on the bed, switch to soft-light so you can keep chargin' an' just lay and talk to her. She sleeps, you can sleep without worrying about hurtin' or rolling on her, win-win."

"You know what, that just might work, at this point I'll try anything."

"Come on, I'll give you a hand," Lister said, picking up the charging block and leading the way. Rimmer switched the pacifier for a cooler one and followed to where Lister was setting up somewhere for them to sleep. "Righ', lay her in the middle," Lister put the charging block on the bedside table, "right, once she's asleep, you plug yourself in and sleep next to her," he explained.

"Brilliant Lister, thank you."

"Don't worry about it. I'm gonna go help the others, if talking doesn't help, Jim 'n' Bexley liked being sang to. Could always give that a go."

"Yes, um, thank you." He watched Lister leave before settling beside Luna. She sucked at her pacifier, kicked her legs and looked around the room. Rimmer dimmed the lights, hoping that would help her sleep, it didn't, she just lay there, gurgling around her pacifier, looking up at him with her big eyes. _My eyes_, he mused. "You're going to make me sing to you, aren't you?" He said softly, tickling her tummy. Rimmer didn't care for singing, it was one of the many things his brothers bullied him for, mainly because he could hold a tune and they couldn't. It was the one thing he had excelled in above them. And they tortured him for it. If you'd ever seen Home Alone 2 and seen what the older brother had done to Kevin during the Christmas concert and thought he'd crossed a line - Rimmer's brothers were worse. "Yep," he sighed, "that's what I thought. But you listen here, and listen closely, young lady, daddy doesn't just sing for anyone, alright?" Luna simply made a happy sound as he tickled her tummy. "Alright, give me a moment to work out what I'm going to sing," Rimmer racked his brains for something that sounded remotely like a lullaby, then he remembered.

When he had been young, there had been one relative who celebrated his voice. His grandmother. She cherished the time he would spend singing her requests. She'd requested he sang at her funeral and he did, despite his father forbidding it. Rimmer's grandmother loved this song and he hoped, silently, that Luna would too. Rimmer laid beside her and began softly, his voice was out of practise but as his confidence increased muscle memory kicked in as he sang to Luna.

"Sun goes down and says goodnight  
Pull your covers up real tight  
By your bed we'll leave a light  
To guide you off to dreamland  
Your pillows soft your bed is warm  
Your eyes are tired when day is done  
One more kiss and you'll be gone  
On your way to dreamland  
Every sleepy boy and girl  
In every bed around the world  
Can hear the stars up in the sky  
Whispering a lullaby  
Who knows where you'll fly away  
Winging passed the light of day  
The man in the moon and the milky way  
Welcome you to dreamland  
Every sleepy boy and girl  
In every bed around the world  
Can hear the stars up in the sky  
Whispering a lullaby  
Who knows where you'll fly away  
Winging passed the light of day  
The man in the moon and the milky way  
Welcome you to dreamland."

By the end of the song, Luna was sound asleep, though he gave it another 10 minutes before switching back to soft-light and plugging in his light-bee to charge and drifting off next to her.

When Rimmer woke he'd been unplugged, and he was hard-light again. Lister must have unplugged him, he reasoned. He yawned and stretched before suddenly realising Luna was no longer in the bed with him. Panic set in as he moved the pillows and sheets. He calmed finding a note, written in Lister's messy hand. '_You were out, looked like you needed it, don't worry, I've got Luna_.' Taking a moment to compose himself he asked Holly for their location and joined them as they watched more Zero-G football.

"Hey, look who's here Luna," Lister said, bouncing her, "you look loads better."

"I feel loads better," Rimmer said tickling his daughter's cheek and sitting beside Lister. "Zero-G football Lister, really?"

"What, there's lots of colours and noises, kids love it." Lister defended.

"Sure they do," Rimmer rolled his eyes teasingly, putting his arm over the back of the sofa. Rimmer watched the game with them, smiling at the way Lister would celebrate a goal with Luna, who seemed to enjoy the attention of being lifted and bounced.

"How long d'it take ya to put her down?"

"Not too long, I gave in to her pleading eyes and sang to her. Really, she gave me no choice," Rimmer said.

Lister chuckled, "I'm sure," he said as Luna crawled over his lap to her daddy. Rimmer smiled and put an arm up to stop her falling off the sofa, pacifier between her lips.

"Don't be getting too used to this either, like the singing, it's temporary," Rimmer said, tapping the pacifier which she giggled around. He smiled down at his daughter, who was he kidding, he'd do anything for her. Including sing. Once he'd shared that song with someone special. A loved one. Now he could do it all over again.


End file.
